A Guide to the Maury Madison Papers, 1926-1950

Comprised of sheet music,
correspondence, contracts, printed material, and photographs, the Maury Madison
Papers, 1926-1950, document Madison’s career as a music composer in Kentucky,
California, and Europe.

Born William Renick Smith in Kentucky, musician and composer Maury Madison (1893-ca.
1962) lived and worked in Los Angeles, California, and Paris, France, in the 1920s
through 1950s. Madison’s songs include "Gypsy
Caravan,""Make Your Tomorrow Today,""Honolulu Honey," and "What Is There so Rare as a Day in June." He also composed songs for the
play Out of the Blue by Leslie Hollingsworth and
wrote music to accompany poems written by U.S. presidents and their families in his
compilations Echoes of the White House, Bards of the White House, and Lincoln Lyre.

Comprised of sheet music, correspondence, contracts, printed material, and
photographs, the Maury Madison Papers, 1926-1950, document Madison’s career as a
music composer in Kentucky, California, and Europe. The correspondence and contracts
concern the licensing and publication of Madison’s songs in Europe and the United
States. Sheet music, transcripts of poems, Photostat copies of original poems, and a
transcript of permission letters pertain to his compilations Bards of the White House, Echoes of the White
House, and Lincoln Lyre. Programs,
newspaper clippings, sheet music, and an annotated copy of Out of the Blue by Leslie Hollingsworth and Madison chronicle the
play’s production and staging in Lexington, Kentucky. The file on martyred
presidents contains photographs of U.S. presidents who were shot while in office,
clippings about the anniversary of Lincoln’s death, and biographical information on
several presidents through the 1930s. The collection also has sheet music for
Madison’s songs, including "Make Your Tomorrow
Today" and "Honolulu Honey."

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.